Chapter 1

Cole Hartness has abandoned me in the snow mountain for a week. By the time the search-and-rescue team finds me, I'm practically on my deathbed.

Cole remains high and mighty even when surrounded by the others.

"Rach is kind enough to forgive you even though you almost killed her in the snow mountain. If it wasn't for her pleading for your sake, you'd be staying here for another week.

"Our engagement banquet shall be delayed. We'll only proceed with it once Rach makes a full recovery."

Cole is already prepared for my impending tantrum. After all, he knows that I've been looking forward to the engagement banquet for a long time.

But I reply obediently, "Okay."

For a few moments, Cole finds himself stunned.

"You owe Rach this much! Once she's done recovering, we'll get engaged! Stop being so unreasonable—"

"Cole, I'd like to rest for a while," I cut him off before closing my eyes tiredly.

What Cole doesn't know is that I've already decided to leave him the moment he makes the decision to ditch me in the mountain.

That is, if I can survive the avalanche.

Chapter 1

When I woke up, I found myself alone on a snowy mountain.

Cole Hartness had abandoned me there, leaving only a note with a sharp message he'd scrawled. "Isabel, stay where you are and reflect on the things you've done. I'll come get you in a week."

At first, I kept imagining him suddenly showing up to take me away. After all, no one worried about my safety more than he did.

But it was as if fate were determined to go against me. Instead of Cole coming to get me, an avalanche arrived first.

I ran. The icy wind knifed down my throat in greedy bursts. My lungs burned with every gasp. As time passed, all I could hear was the pounding of my own heartbeat.

My numb legs moved on autopilot. Then, I stumbled and crashed to the ground. The roar behind me grew louder and louder. I watched helplessly as the wall of snow swallowed me whole.

Right before I blacked out, I told myself that if I somehow survived this, I would be done with Cole. I wouldn't want him anymore.

Somehow, against all odds, I did survive. Then, I clung to life until a rescue team found me.

I lay on a hospital bed, listening quietly as a doctor delivered his verdict.

Because I'd been trapped on the mountain for too long, my eyesight had deteriorated sharply, my vocal cords were damaged, and almost all my organs showed different degrees of failure. At most, I would only live until 30.

Upon hearing that, Cole grabbed the doctor by the collar. His eyes were bloodshot as he barked, "Isn't modern medicine supposed to be advanced? What do you mean she can only live to 30?

"She's only 24, and you're telling me she only has six years left? She was just stuck on a mountain for a week. How can things be so bad?"

The doctor was clearly terrified. He stammered, "T-That's what Ms. Cavendish's test results show."

Rachel Lancaster, dressed in a hospital gown, rested her hands lightly on Cole's wrists.

"Cole, maybe this hospital's not very good," she said soothingly. "Why don't we transfer Izzy to my hospital? You know how bad I was before, but look at me now. I can walk, and I can even come here with you to visit Izzy."

Cole abruptly released the doctor and turned to look at Rachel. His face lit up. "You're right. If we go to your hospital, the doctors there will definitely be able to cure Izzy."

I lowered my eyes. The damage was already done. These aftereffects weren't something that could be cured.

Very quickly, Cole transferred me to the hospital where Rachel was staying. There, her attending physician told Cole that I'd only been badly frightened. Aside from that, there was nothing wrong with me.

Rachel feigned surprise as she gasped. "How can this be? The previous tests said things were really bad."

Cole kept pressing the doctor on my situation. The doctor insisted I was fine and that I just looked a little weak.

Cole flew off the handle. "You're unbelievable, Isabel! Do you have any idea how worried I've been? And you went and colluded with a doctor to exaggerate your condition just to get my attention!"

Chapter 2

"Fine!" Cole snapped. "Since this is how you're behaving, there's no need for us to get engaged, even after Rach is better. We can revisit that only when you realize how terribly wrong you are!"

Rachel quickly spoke up. "Cole, don't be mad. Izzy's just immature. You know how badly she wants to marry you."

"Well, it's time she grew up," he said sharply. "This time, she even forced you to take off your clothes when we were high up a snowy mountain! If I hadn't found you in time, you would've frozen to death."

He glared at me. "If you continue throwing these unreasonable tantrums, then… we'll just keep postponing the engagement."

Cole carefully helped Rachel out of the hospital room. Before leaving, he gave me one last long, deep look. In that brief moment, I caught the flicker of disappointment in his eyes.

What was he disappointed about? That I hadn't changed at all? That I was still an unreasonable, spoiled brat?

But he was the one who had once held my hand and repeatedly told me, "Izzy, you should be a little more willful. With me, you'll always have the right to throw a tantrum."

I'd believed him and done exactly that. But now that Rachel was back, Cole's stance had changed. "Stop being so unreasonable, Isabel. You don't have the right to behave like this."

Or maybe he was disappointed because he thought I'd tried to kill Rachel just because I was jealous of her.

But Rachel was the one who'd said to me, "So what if you and Cole are about to get engaged? You're still an orphan with no real parents. You were born to end up alone, and Cole will always be mine."

Then, she'd suddenly stripped and thrown herself into the show. Her eyes had instantly reddened, and she'd desperately begged me not to make her take anything else off.

She was the one who'd set me up and made it look like I'd bullied her. She'd made it easy and natural for everyone to believe I was at fault.

I was abandoned once again, just like that winter 18 years ago, when I was left at the orphanage door.

The Hartnesses had taken me in because my birth date and time supposedly canceled out the destined calamity in Cole's life. And for the next 18 years, he'd treated me like a pampered princess.

But no matter how pampered I was, any talk about me being an orphan and not having parents still pierced my heart.

Rachel wanted to fight me for Cole, but I was already exhausted. So, I would stop. If she wanted him that badly, she could have him.

…

Cole believed what Rachel's attending physician had said and brought me back to the Hartness residence.

Fine by me. It would give me enough time to pack my things and leave the place for good.

I climbed the stairs slowly. After running for my life on the mountain, my legs hadn't healed right. I could only walk at a snail's pace.

Behind me, Rachel's delicate, whiny voice drifted over. "Cole, my foot hurts a little."

Then came a sharp little yelp, followed by the rapid thudding of footsteps rushing past me.

I looked up to see Cole carrying Rachel in a princess carry, his tall frame completely shielding her. Only her slender calves peeked out from his arms.

I met Rachel's gaze over his shoulder. The corners of her lips curled into a smug smile. She looked at me with open provocation and gave her foot the slightly playful wiggle.

I immediately got it—she was faking it.

By the time I made it to my bedroom door, I saw through the narrow crack a slim figure standing inside, holding up a necklace with a locket.

My eyes widened. I rushed into the room and snatched the locket away.

"Rachel, did no one ever teach you not to touch other people's things without permission?" I snapped. "And what are you even doing in my room?"

She didn't get angry. Instead, she casually flipped her hair back and let out a soft, mocking laugh. "It's just a dumb locket. It's hardly worth making a scene over.

"Besides, this is the Hartness residence. Everything here belongs to Cole. How can you call this your room? Once he gets sick of you and marries me, this entire mansion will be mine."

I almost laughed in disbelief. I'd never met someone so shameless.

I countered, "Let's not even talk about whether you'll ever marry Cole. Right now, what you're going to do is get the hell out of my room! Now!"

Chapter 3

Rachel's eyes instantly turned red, and she swayed on her feet as if she might collapse. "Izzy, I… I just wanted to check on you and talk for a bit. If you don't like it, I'll leave right now."

With that, she brushed past me and ran toward the door.

I let out a cold laugh and turned around. Sure enough, Cole was there.

He stood in the doorway, face twisted with anger. His gaze locked on me as he roared, "How long are you going to keep this up, Isabel?"

Rachel patted his shoulder, her tone tinged with disappointment. "It's okay. Izzy's still shaken and hasn't fully recovered yet. I'll come see her again tomorrow. I'll head back to the hospital now."

Cole didn't budge. His tone softened as he said to her, "Rach, you're staying here tonight. I'll have a room prepared for you right away. I'll take you to the hospital tomorrow."

After comforting her, he turned back to interrogate me, his tone turning cold once again. "When did you become like this? Rach only came to check on you out of kindness, and you told her to get out! How can you be so vicious? Apologize to her now!"

Though I'd already made up my mind about leaving Cole, hearing him say that still sent a sharp stab through my chest.

Vicious, huh? I never thought I would hear him use that word on me.

I stared numbly at the two of them. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that, and I shouldn't have acted that way."

Cole's look of anger eased slightly, clearly satisfied with my apology. "At least you realize that you were wrong. If your attitude remains like this when Rach is all better, then we'll get engaged."

I suddenly said calmly, "If you don't want the engagement to happen, I can call it off."

He stared at me in disbelief, and a flicker of panic flashed through his eyes. However, he soon composed himself.

"You're the one at fault here, Isabel. Isn't it right for you to apologize? And now you're threatening me with breaking off the engagement? Do you really think I'll die without you or something?"

I looked at him steadily, my tone so casual that it was as if we were talking about the weather. "Let's call it off, then. I'll speak to—"

"Isabel Cavendish, what do you take me for?" Cole cut me off sharply, his body trembling. I couldn't tell whether it was from anger or fear.

"You think you can just walk away from this engagement whenever you feel like it?" he roared. "Even if we're ending things, it'll be because I'm dumping you!"

He glared at me, then stormed off and slammed the door behind him.

I was unfazed. One way or another, this engagement was going to be called off.

With my mind made up, I started going over my finances. Even though I was only the Hartness family's foster child, they had never been stingy with material things. Even so, once I got into college, I'd started working part-time and stopped using the allowance they gave me.

Now that I was about to move out of the Hartness residence, I was glad to see that the money I had saved up was more than enough for me to live comfortably.

Feeling content, I began packing the things I planned to take with me.

Just then, someone knocked on the door. A dignified, elegant woman who shared the same brows and eyes as Cole stood in the doorway. It was his mother, Melissa Bloomberg.

I was surprised and hurried to let her in. Melissa had always been gentle and kind, and she treated me well.

She set the glass of milk in her hand on my nightstand and took my hand, guiding me to sit at the edge of the bed with her.

"Izzy, how are you feeling?" she asked softly. "I can't believe Cole was enough of a jerk to leave you up in the mountains for a whole week. He kept it from your dad and me, too! It must've been freezing and dangerous up there!"

As she spoke, her eyes turned red. She pulled me into her arms and gently rubbed my back with one hand.

My nose stung when I smelled the faint scent of laundry detergent on her clothes. A wave of pure, helpless grievance surged up from deep inside me.

She went on and on, fussing over me one moment and cursing out Cole the next.

Chapter 4

Being taken in by the Hartness family was probably the luckiest thing that had ever happened to me.

Even though I was originally brought home to keep Cole safe from his destined calamity, Melissa and her husband, Stan Hartness, had truly raised me as their own daughter.

Once I left the Hartness residence, they would be the only people I would truly miss.

After a moment's hesitation, I decided to come clean to Melissa and tell her I wanted to break off the engagement. Her eyes widened as she stared at me, as if trying to find some hint that I was just joking.

But my attitude was sincere and firm. I also told her I'd decided to go abroad in a week to further my studies in design.

Once she realized I was serious, her expression softened with heartache. She reached out and gently patted my head.

"Both you and Cole are my children; I love you both the same. I'll talk to Stan about calling off the engagement. Izzy, let me apologize to you on Cole's behalf. He really went too far this time."

I shook my head. "Mom, even if this hadn't happened, we would've eventually split up over something else anyway. Cole and I are just not meant to be."

Melissa sighed. "If that's how you feel, then so be it. Get some rest, okay?"

…

The next morning, after breakfast, everyone went off to do their own thing. In no time at all, the only people left at the dining table were Cole and me.

The atmosphere was a little awkward. I lowered my gaze slightly, pretending to be calm as I slowly finished my breakfast. I could feel his stare on me, hot and intense, as if he wanted to see right through me.

When I finally finished eating and was about to head upstairs, Cole finally snapped. He slammed his cutlery down onto the table. They smacked against the plate with a crisp sound.

I paused, sighed, and looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

He sneered. "What kind of stung are you pulling this time, Isabel? Are you getting Mom and Dad to pressure me now?"

I had no idea what Stan and Melissa had said to him to make him misunderstand me like this.

I thought about it for a moment, wondering if I should explain things to him clearly. After all, even if we were parting ways, it would be better to do it on decent terms. We would still see each other in the future whenever I came back to visit Stan and Melissa.

Just as I was about to explain, a sharp ringtone cut through the air.

Cole picked up the phone and furrowed his brow slightly, his expression growing more and more anxious. He grabbed his jacket and hurried toward the door.

When he reached the entryway, he suddenly stopped and glanced back, noticing that I was still standing alone by the dining table.

His hand paused on the doorknob. Seeing how calm and distant I looked, he subconsciously offered an explanation. "Something's going on with Rach. I'll talk to you when I get back."

I smiled faintly at him, nodded, and said mildly, "Go ahead."

Cole clearly hadn't expected me to be so unconcerned and to let him rush off without so much as batting an eye. For some reason, that seemed to irritate him.

"I'm warning you. Don't go running your mouth to my parents. I'm not changing my mind!" he snapped.

I watched as his slightly frantic figure disappeared through the door, thinking that I wasn't changing my mind, either.

…

By evening, I'd pretty much finished sorting my things. I had the maids start packing them up. Some would be going abroad with me, and some were to be thrown away.

The discarded pile consisted entirely of matching items I'd bought after getting together with Cole.

One of the maids, Laura Brown, glanced at the pile headed for the trash. "Ms. Cavendish, are you really sure you want to throw all of this away?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It's all stuff I don't want anymore."

"What do you not want?" Cole's voice came from the doorway.

I answered evenly, "Just some old things. There's no point keeping them here."

"Makes sense. Out with the old, in with the new. When we get engaged, we'll be buying plenty of new things any—"

He abruptly stopped, and I turned to look at him.

His expression had darkened, as if he'd just realized he'd said something he shouldn't have. He shot me a sideways look, then headed upstairs without another word.

Chapter 5

As Cole walked past the box of things I was throwing away, a plain women's ring slipped out and hit the floor. He kept walking.

I bent down to pick it up, gently running my fingers over it. He and I had made this ring together on our first anniversary. We'd gone to a DIY jewelry studio and crafted rings for each other, having "C&I" engraved on the inside.

I tried to remember what exactly Cole had promised me back then, but it was all a bit blurry now.

I shoved the ring back into the corner of the box. Whether he still wanted to get engaged or not, I was done.

Laura sighed softly, secretly taking the ring back out again when I wasn't looking.

…

Time passed quickly. Soon, it was the day before I was due to leave.

As always, I had dinner with Stan and Melissa. Melissa kept reminding me about all the things to pay attention to when I was abroad, and Stan chimed in from time to time.

I treasured warm moments like this. It was a pity that we were ultimately interrupted.

The screech of car brakes was loud enough to hear through the door. As I looked out the window, I saw Cole leading Rachel into the house.

I didn't want to face them on my last night, so I went back to my room first. I heard rustling and bits of conversation drifting up from downstairs.

At some point, I dozed off. When I woke up, it was already 11:00 pm. My throat was burning with thirst.

I crept downstairs, poured myself a glass of warm water, and climbed back up the stairs. That was when I saw Rachel standing at the top landing, looking pitiful.

The moment she saw me, she came straight toward me. I curled my lip, already wondering what stunt she was going to pull this time.

She stopped beside me and leaned in close to hiss into my ear, "This is all your fault. Why won't you just die already, Isabel? Even now, Cole still won't agree to call off the engagement."

Then, she grabbed my hand and slammed it into her own stomach, using the force to throw herself down the stairs.

"Rach!" Cole's panicked shout rang out as he rushed over and scooped her up from the bottom of the stairs.

He looked utterly shaken. This time, he didn't say a word to me. He just picked Rachel up in his arms and headed straight for the door. Without even looking back, he tossed out, "We're not getting engaged."

All I felt was a dull kind of boredom. I'd been framed like this too many times.

At the beginning, I would get hurt and try to defend myself, but a few words from Rachel were always enough to make Cole believe her without hesitation. I would just end up getting scolded.

If he would just bother to check the security cameras… If he could trust me, even just a little…

I had a maid pull up the surveillance footage. The video clearly showed everything that had just happened.

Stan and Melissa watched it with me.

Melissa's face darkened with fury. "So that's how it is. She looks so soft and fragile on the outside, but she's actually so calculating! We can't afford to have someone like her in our family!

"Izzy, before this, I couldn't bear the thought of you leaving us to go abroad, but now I think you made the right choice. You just focus on leaving with peace of mind tomorrow. I'll handle everything else for you."

…

The next day, Stan and Melissa set aside their work and saw me off at the airport.

I caught up on sleep on the plane, thinking about the life of freedom that awaited me. The thought made me genuinely happy.

A few days later, I received a video from Melissa. Cole was the focus of the recording. It started with him rushing into my bedroom, looking travel-worn. He stared in shock at the empty room he was in.